Letters to the editor for Dec. 31
A school board’s responsibility
The Dec. 19 front page headline gave Tumwater School District’s Superintendent Sean Dotson his turn to publicly respond to the concerns expressed in an October letter from school administrators and district office staff. One of the concerns is mismanagement of district funds.
Nowhere in the article was there any mention of the Tumwater School Board’s responsibilities regarding district funds. So, I began to wonder, what are the responsibilities of a school board? According to the Washington State School Directors’ Association (WSSDA), their primary responsibilities are:
- Hire, supervise and evaluate the superintendent
- Set the vision, mission and strategic goals for the district
- Review revise and adopt policies
- Establish and oversee the budget
- Serve as community representatives
- Monitor the district’s progress towards its goals
People may not realize just how much control school boards have over a school district. Did the mismanagement of funds go unnoticed by the school board? If so, it seems the board shares responsibility regarding this serious concern.
Melissa Swart, Lacey
A landlord speaks out
Thanks to Gov. Jay Inslee, my hard-earned retirement savings are disappearing. He’s coddling the squatters taking advantage of the eviction moratorium. My squatter owes $14,000 in rent and $10,000 in damages. I’ve tried for four months to have him evicted; after $8,000 in lawyer’s fees and jumping through innumerable pointless hoops, he is still there. Washington gives greater rights to a deadbeat squatter than to the homeowner.
Having raised the property taxes in Thurston County, and then denied me the ability to pay them, government policies force me to sell my house in order to be rid of a thief. And even then the thief gets to stay — for free — while running up the bills for another 90 days!
He also owes money on the utilities but Olympia City Manager Jay Burney has made the decision that squatters are entitled to free utilities for the foreseeable future. There goes another $1,000! The phone lady at city of Olympia billing said, “That’s the risk you take as a landlord” — essentially blaming me for the situation. When I became a landlord it was NOT the risk I was taking.
Failing in their obligations to the unemployed poor citizens of Washington, Inslee and Burney have put the burden on elderly retirees like me. Thanks to these policies, I will probably end up camped along Wheeler Road eating dirt while a loser lives in my house. Thanks a lot.
Elna Benoit, Olympia
Green nuclear power is the key to saving salmon
Indigenous tribes and salmon of the Pacific Northwest have spent a century waiting for the colonists and their descendants to recognize the value of healthy salmon environments. The Lorraine Loomis Act finally has everyone pulling together.
This effort’s timing is propitious. Occupying a huge portion of the North Pacific Ocean is a 20- to 30-year natural phase changing ocean oscillation. The Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) discovered by two Washington state scientists. Their science found the salmon preferred northern environmental areas of the Pacific Northwest during the PDO’s positive (warm) phase and southern areas of the Pacific Northwest in its negative (cool) phase. The PDO has reportedly turned negative, meaning the salmon will now be heading towards our environs.
One major crucial restoration project for the salmon remains. The dams on the Columbia and its tributaries need to be removed. The reliable zero CO2 electricity these dams produce is crucial and needs to be replaced with a similar 24/7 reliable zero CO2 system. Erratically, intermittent weather dependent, unreliable wind/solar/battery systems will not work, being wildly expensive while occupying unacceptable environmental footprints.
Small Modular Reactor (SMR) systems will work. Modern scaleable SMR designs emit zero CO2, can be factory manufactured, located anywhere, won’t blow up, and won’t melt down while operating 24/7.
Non-indigenous peoples needed an attitude adjustment about the value of a flourishing salmon environment. Now nuclear power opposing groups need attitude adjustments about the value of green nuclear power in restoring salmon environments while keeping reliable zero CO2 electricity flowing.
Paul Fundingsland, Olympia